A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from a New Jersey company that claims Terre Haute officials and a local construction firm fraudulently cut them out of a sludge-to-diesel deal.
The lawsuit, filed last year by Overseas Lease Group, said city officials participated in a "pay-for-play" arrangement with Plocher Construction Co. It named Plocher leaders, as well as Terre Haute, the wastewater utilities department and the Board of Public Works and Safety.
In an opinion dated Nov. 27, Judge Michael Vasquez says Overseas Lease Group's arguments were "plainly deficient."
"[T]he opposition is severely lacking in any substantive analysis, instead relying on conclusory statements and hyperbole," Vasquez wrote in the opinion. "The opposition often fails to even make plausible assertions."
OLG claimed that Terre Haute officials, including Mayor Duke Bennett (R), accepted cash payments in exchange for working with Plocher Construction.
At the time of the contract, Bennett said it was what the city needed to help it get out of debt. But, the deal made Terre Haute’s financial situation worse.
In 2016, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the city of Terre Haute defaulted on the contract agreements.
